Control element for statistical machines



Jan. 19, 1943. M, MAUL 2,308,928

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0 v so 100 lillylllllllllllnld ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 19, 1943 CONTROLELEMENT FOR STATISTICAL MACHINES Michael Maul, Berlin-Johannisthal,Germany; vested in the Alien Pi'operty Custodian Original application254,524. Divided 1939, Serial No. 285,732

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to a control element for controllingstatistical machines and more particularly to a record medium or carrieradapted for handling in such machines which is provided with graphicalcharacters for controlling the statistical operations of the machines inaccordance with the different values of the said characters. ihe instantapplication is a division of the copending application, Serial No.254,524, filed February 4, 1939.

In accounting in the most general sense, i. e., in bookkeeping andstatistical work, one is.concerned chiefly with the compilation of thedata of data carriers. Compilation may be effected in several differentways such as by assorting according to certain characters and/ornumbers, or by accumulation of the numbers, or by assorting andaccumulation, or by subtraction or multiplication. The data carriers mayassume the form of tickets, cards, or strips and the data containedthereon can be provided in such manner that control of the statisticalmachines is accomplished by virtue of the physical characteristics ofthe data.

At present the best known and most widely used mechanical compilation ofdata takes place in the perforated record card system in which the datais represented by selectively positioned perforations in cards. Theperforated cards are analyzed by brushes which make electrica contactthrough the perforations to effect control of the machines, such asassorting and tabulating machines, in accordance with the meaning of thedata.

Now it has already been suggested to depart from the perforated cardsystem for the representation of data for the control of the machines byrepresenting the data by graphical characters printed on cards and touse said graphical characters for the direct control thereof. The use ofgraphical characters greatly Iacilitates reading of the data which is tobe used for control purposes. Since the graphical characters must causea differential control depending upon their meaning, they must alsodiffer in a certain manner perceivable by the machines and the type of aprinting device for such graphical characters must be providedaccordingly. Among the known suggestions is one in which the area of thenumerical characters increases with the different numbers in such mannerthat the numeral has the smallest and the numeral 9 the largest area,and the areas of all numerals increase in equal steps in the sequence ofthe order of the numerals (see U. S.

February 4, 1939, Serial No. and this application July 21,

characters by light analysis thereof using a photo-electric cell.However, with the characters formed according to this known suggestionwith some very thick numbers and the graduatlon of the areas in thesequence of the values of the numerals, a rather unpleasant picture isobtained which may also be inconvenient in practical use.

The present application describes a printing device the type of whichare so shaped that the type, and therefore the characters printed bythem, differ from each other by gradually increasing areas. However, inthe present case the characters provided on the record medium are suchthat the graduation of the selected and predetermined areas of thecharacters with which the instant invention is concerned is not providedin the sequence of the values of the numerals, i. -e., not in thesequence of the numerals 0-9, but independently of the value of thenumerals in a sequence in which the differences of area which alreadyexist in a certain degree in known type are utilized. In such smallcharacters as in the usually applied type, it' is very desirable for thepurpose of the mechanical compilation that the width of the typeportions forming the character lines is constant. In con sideration ofthis circumstance, the characters printed on the record medium accordingto the present invention are formed so that the outlines orconfigurations of the different characters are equal in width for allthe characters but are so shaped that they difier fromeach otherindependently of their meaning or value by different and about equallyspaced lengths of their middleline. By middle-line is meant an imaginaryline passing through the middle of all the lines making up thecharacter, as will be further explained in connection with the drawings.If only numerical characters are used, the shapes or the characters aresuch that they have equally graduated middle-line lengths running fromthe shortest middle-line character (for instance 1) to the longestmiddle-line character (for instance 8). Of course, the provision of thecharacters according to the invention may also be applied to charactersof any meaning and/ or form, being restricted neither to theArabicnumerical characters illustrated, nor to numerical characters solely.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a recordmedium which is adapted for controlling statistical machines and uponwhich medium are disposed diilerent characters for controlling thevarious operations or the machines in accordance with the meaningsthereor, the outlines or configurations or said characters being ofconstant widths yet having difierent middle line lengths whereby thecharacters differ from each other in the areas 01 the said middle linelengths.

Another object is the provision of a record medium having diiferentcharacters disposed thereon for controlling the diiferent operations ofstatistical machines and wherein the middle line lengths oi thediilerent characters diii'er from the shortest to the longest insubstantially equally graduated steps independently or the meaning orthe characters.

Other objects or the invention will be pointed out in the followingdescription and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention andthe best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically a section of a typewriter-like printingmechanism.

Fig. la is a top view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically in partial section an alternate printingdevice with type bars.

Fig. 3 shows in a very enlarged scale the set of numeral type as theyare used in the devices shown in Figs. 1, 1a and 2.

' Fig. 4 shows a print of the numeral type in Fig. 3 in the same scaleas Fig. 3.

Fig. 4a shows diagrammatically the lengths of the middle-linesco-ordinated to the diiierent numeral type.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are prints of known shapes 01 type in a very enlargedscale.

Figs. 5a, 6a and 7a show the scale for the middle-line lengths or thecharacters oi Figs. 5, 6 and 7 respectively, and a table giving thelengths of the middle-lines for the various numerals.

Fig. 8 shows part of a record medium comprising a statistical cardhaving the different characters which form the present inventiondisposed thereon.

Bei'ore describing the record medium which is the subject matter of theinstant invention, a brief description of suitable printing devices willbe made. In Figs. 1 and 1a a typewriter-like device has been illustratedand in order for the description to be brief is shown to be adapted onlyfor printing numerals. Accordingly, this device shows a set of numeralkeys III adapted to actuate the rock levers l2 through key levers H andintermediate levers Ila. On the rock levers I! are arranged the typebodies I shown in a greatly enlarged scale in Fig. 3. Upon actuation ofa key, the corresponding type or the I type body :4 will be moved,together with the ribbon ll, against the data carrier provided in thisinstance as card It, and the corresponding numeral will be printedthereupon. The carriage l5 carrying the card It is shifted step by stepin the manner well known in the typewriter art.

In Fig. 2, a printing device with type bars as often used in statisticalmachines has been illustrated. A series of stops 2| is provided witheach stop being movable to the position of 2m by operation or acorresponding control element (not shown). A lever 22 engages cam II tobe raised thereby and acts through springs ii to raise type bar 20.Mounted on the upper end of type bar III is a series 01' elements 25carrying type I 4 on their ends for cooperation with a ribbon I! toprint upon card I. in carriage I 5. Type bar 20 will be raised untilportion 20a engages stop 2la to position the desired element 25 forprinting by the type carried thereby. Hammer 26, carried on pivotedlever 23, will then be moved to strike the selected element 25 to eiIectprinting of the desired character. Only one type bar may be provided andthe carriage ii in Fig. 2 may be shifted step by step. However, it isalso quite possible, as is also known in statistical machines, toprovide a plurality of rows of keys and a plurality 01' type bars whichare simultaneously adjusted to eifect printing of several characters.

In Fig. 3, the type bodies are shown in front view in a greatly enlargedscale and Fig. 4 shows a print of the type oi. Fig. 3. In Fig. 8 asuitable control element for controlling the operations of statisticalmachines is shown comprising a record card 30 and being provided withthe characters 3| which are formed by the described type elements. Thesaid record card may be similar to the Hollerith type of record card inuse today for controlling the operations or well known type ofstatistical machines. In the numeral characters of Figs. 4 and 8, themiddle-lines are indicated by thin white lines. These white lines are soinscribed as to make it obvious that since the widths of the characterlines are constant and equal, the total length or the white lines ofeach character is an exact measure for the area of the character.

In the diagram in Fig. 4a the rectified middleline lengths of thediil'erent numerals are shown.

In the lower part of the diagram the various numerals are indicated andabove each numeral a black line indicates the length of the rectifledmiddle-line developed from the characters shown in Figs. 4 and 8. Thearrangement is such that the longest middle-line, in the presentinstance the middle-line of the numeral 8, is designated as hundredunits; the middle-line oi the numeral 1 results then in 40 units andbetween these limits the middle-line lengths of the other numerals arecorrespondingly equally graduated. On the upper end of each middlelinelength, Fig. 4a, is shown the respective measure number for themiddle-line length. It may be easily seen therefrom that the lengths areequally graduated.

Generally, it is not necessary to show known arrangements also in thedrawings to compare them with the invention. However, in the presentinstance, a comparison of known printing type with the invention isdiflicult and inconvenient because only in an enlarged scale of the typeand character is a comparison and a proper Judgment possible. Therefore,in the present instance the characters which are obtained with someknown forms of type are shown in an enlarged scale and the relationswith regard to their middle-lines are set down in tables. The numeralsprinted by a Remington portable typewriter are shown as enlarged in Fig.5. Fig. 6 shows, also in a greatly enlarged scale, the numerals printedby a standard Continental" typewriter, and Fig. '7 shows in an enlargedscale a German standardized type (DIN 1451, medium print).

In Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the middle-line is indicated as a thin white lineand the inscriptions have been made in such manner that in view of theconstant width of the lines of each type, the length of the middle-lineis a measure of the area of the character. It is to be noted that due tothe rounded end portions in Figs. and 6 the middle-lines have not beendrawn entirely to the ends of the characters in order to obtain acorrection for the loss of area in the before mentioned rounded endportions.

Now if the length of the longest middle-line,

that of numeral 8, is set at 100 and the lengths of the middle-line ofthe remaining numerals are meas red in that scale, the characters ofFigures 5, 6 and 'I will have the middle-line lengths shown in thecorresponding tables (Figs. 5a, 6a and 7a). Examination of these tableswill disclose that in each set of numerals there are at least twocharacters having the same middle-line lengths and that the differencebetween the lengths of some of the others is quite insignificant. It isalso obvious that the difierence in lengths is very irregular.

In contrast, it will be recalled that the characters shown in Figs. 4and 8 have middle-line lengths increasing in equal steps from theshortest to the longest without regard for the value of the characters.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to a single modiflca tion, itwill be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changesin the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operationmay be made by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limitedonly as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A control element adapted for controlling the operations ofstatistical machines comprising a record medium having differentgraphical characters of the numeral series 0 through 9 disposed thereon,the lines forming said characters having light-modifying properties inrelation to character field, and being of constant width in a characterand the same width for all characters but the different charactershaving different middle-line lengths whereby the characters difier fromeach other in their areas and hence in their light-modifying properties,the character 8 having the longest and the character 1 having theshortest middle-line with the remaining characters being provided withmiddie-line lengths between those of the 1 and 8 in substantiallyequally graduated steps.

2. The invention set forth in claim 3 wherein the said characters havemiddle-line lengths increasing in the sequence 1-'7-2 -3-4-0 -5-- 6-9-8.

MICHAEL MAUL.

